


getting it right, from the start

by covalentbonds



Series: getting it right [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Angst with a Happy Ending, Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Spoilers, Do over - Freeform, Domestic Avengers, F/F, Humor, I will add tags as I go, M/M, Post-Avengers: Endgame (Movie), Set during Civil War, Team as Family, Tony Stark Deserves Better, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, actually fuck that, and he gets one, how i have longed to use that tag again, im tired of my favs always suffering and so are you, my favourite tag on this site, steve also deserves better and a hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-30
Updated: 2019-04-30
Packaged: 2020-02-10 10:03:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18658204
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/covalentbonds/pseuds/covalentbonds
Summary: he cups tony's face and—and kisses him right as tony snaps his fingers, no wait that's wrong. just a second before.and everything vanishes in a bright light.Here’s the thing, steve feels what tony wants, the second their lips meet and what he wants and what he’s going to wish for are very different things because tony is the most selfless person to ever exist.tony wants to live. but in that second steve is sure what tony was going to wish for, is thanos and his army to dust off, bearing whatever harm comes to his own self.steve can’t let that happen. and in that one second, he tries to think where everything went wrong.“you are tearing the avengers apart.”and when he opens his eyes, he’s there. three years ago.or, steve travels to the past right before he fucks up and this time, gets it right.





	getting it right, from the start

In the last few seconds of the fight, Steve gets up. He has been getting up for the last hundred or so years and it's starting to get a little tiring. But he does and he sees as Stephen Strange nods at tony. 

 

_ He knows then.  _

 

And he cannot let it happen. Tony gave him his heart five years ago. Told him to hide under it. It was certainly big enough if that's what Steve wanted to do. But all he wants to do is protect it. Protect that heart and protect that man. 

 

Here's some advice he has given his support group in the last five years. 

  
  


  1. Take the first step. 



 

Tony was married and on his way to a child. he couldn't— 

could he? 

 

(he knows that's wrong, he knows Tony and Pepper have an open relationship still, he knows natasha joins pepper's heart and hearth as often as she can) 

 

  1. Tell the people you love, you love them. 



 

Now, he's tried to. every time he opens his mouth, something of the sort comes out. “i will miss you Tony.”

or “together” sometimes, even. “i am sorry” and he wants to piece them all together but he never has. 

 

  1. Find happiness. 



 

Steve hasn't failed, he's always been good at moving on, picking up and going forward. he's found his feet. on cracked roads but he's found them. but happiness? Fury once said that Steve was in the time he was, because of a reason. because of a person. And call him crazy, he doesn't mind it by the way. Lots of people call him crazy and he usually turns out to be right. 

So call him crazy, but he thinks, his reason is— _ tony.  _

 

And now with all these three things thrumming in his blood like the electricity he felt while summoning mjolnir (actually, better than that. but don't tell thor, he would be very cross) he gets up. 

 

He gets up and he runs, with a broken shield and a solid heart. He kneels in front of Tony, who goes from glaring up at Thanos to looking at him with his big brown eyes wide with shock. 

Steve's never been one for words. He's an artist, sure but his medium is more pencil and paper and again no offense to writers but they could probably never capture the sheer depth of Tony Stark's eyes, like small galaxies being born in the light of a new sun. Life, his eyes shine with pure, life and he doesn't like to brag either, but he's sure he's made some progress trying to pen those to his sketchbook. 

(Afterall, it's the thirty seventh sketchbook, he's filled with Tony's eyes) 

 

He cups Tony's face and—

 

He kisses him right as Tony snaps his fingers, no wait that's wrong. Just a second before. 

 

And everything vanishes in a bright light. 

  
  


Here’s the thing, Steve feels what Tony wants, the second their lips meet, what he wants and what he’s going to wish for are very different things because Tony is the most selfless person to ever exist. 

 

Tony wants to  _ live.  _ but in that second Steve is sure Tony was going to wish for-Thanos and his army to dust off, tolerating whatever harm comes to his own self. 

 

Steve can’t let that happen, and so in that one second,  he tries to think where everything went wrong. 

 

“ _ You are tearing the avengers apart.” _

  
  


And when he opens his eyes, he’s there. three years ago. Just like that. 

  
  


Because Steve wished with all his might to get one more chance to make everything right. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  


* * *

 

 

 

Tony is tired, running on fumes and Steve is being an obstinate asshole as usual. So when he says 

“you are tearing the avengers apart.” his teeth clicking together and his eyes blinking away tears, he’s expecting Steve to reply along the lines of “no, you.” 

 

What Steve does,  _ how _ he reacts, confuses Tony. 

 

Steve falls to his knees and takes off his mask and whispers. 

 

“I’m sorry.”

  
  


Now, that’s not what Tony thought would happen, but it’s a nice change. Everything seems to be going wrong these days. Pepper broke up with him yet again, because “i can’t see you self destruct, yet again Tony. You need to let go..” blah, blah, the same spiel. At this point-the time, they’ve been on breaks is probably more than the time they’ve been together. 

 

Which is hilarious, you know in a pitiful way, like everything else is about Tony’s life. 

 

He’s running without jarvis, the team barely talks to him, and his guilt over ultron is eating him from the inside out like acid over metal, slowly corroding everything. 

 

And the accords, holy shit the fucking accords. Tony is so tired with dealing with all the big wig politicians that want to dictate everything about superheroes and would probably run the opposite way, if it ever actually came down to risking their lives. 

 

Then he had to fucking pistol whip the fucking winter soldier and chase after his own teammates with an order to arrest them (that’s a one too many fuckings, but it’s inside his mind. shh, nobody tell the spider. He’s trying to be a good mentor) 

 

And now here he is. 

 

“Wait. let me make sure I heard this right. You are sorry?  _ you  _ are sorry?”  His voice holds an incredible amount of disbelief.

 

Welp, Tony probably ruined everything with his big mouth there. Steve is going to punch him any second, oh look he’s getting up, and he’s walking towards Tony, here comes that pun-

 

Wait. That’s not a punch, That’s Steve pulling him into a hug. Armour and all. Which is very uncomfortable, so he lets the armor melt away behind him, into sentry mode. 

 

And stumbles as he takes Steve’s whole weight. 

 

He hesitantly puts a hand over Steve’s head which is buried into the crook of Tony’s neck and runs a hand through his hair.

 

“C-cap?” His voice is softer than it has any right to be. 

 

“What’s up with you, is everything okay?”

 

Steve finally pulls away and his smile is too intense for Tony’s heart. Why is Steve smiling in so much relief?

 

“Yeah. Yeah everything is okay. You are …” the rest of the sentence fades away into a mumble. 

 

Well this is only slightly awkward. 

 

“You know I have to arrest you, right?”

 

“That’s okay too.” Steve says with a dopey smile on his face. Tony’s lips form a little ‘o’ as he contemplates if someone hit Steve a little too hard on the head or something. 

 

And then Clint yells. 

 

“Hey what the fuck Steve? that’s not okay! not okay at all. I am not consenting to getting arrested. Na-uh, I refuse.”

  
Steve scowls and Tony can’t stop the laughter bubbling up in his throat, what the fuck is happening? something has changed and usually Tony doesn’t like being unaware of all the variables but somehow it feels  _ right.  _ Like this is how it was supposed to be. 

**Author's Note:**

> okay, so i wrote another story in this series, which was a short happy ever after and i thought that would be enough for me to start healing, but it wasn't. i want to write a lot more about everything that was wrong with endgame and what better place to start if not civil war?  
> the other story has both steve and tony go back in time, but this time, it's just steve. i've seen a lot of stories where tony travels back to fix things, and i've always wanted to write one with steve. (also the start of this one and that one is the same)  
> i enjoy writing steve a lot, i wholely believe that man is annoying and a smart ass punk. goody goody steve who? i'm going to have so much fun with this. i hope you do too. 
> 
> and the inconsistencies in endgame were annoying me. everyone just comes back after five years and the world can accommodate  
> that? the food supplies, the jobs, the way people would have moved on? didn't make any sense to me. also tony would never want morgan to grow up without a father. i refuse to believe that he would be okay with a sacrifice play when he was finally learning how to _want_ to live. 
> 
> rest assured, we will see that little minx here, because i ended up loving her a lot.


End file.
